The Decision to Exploit an R&D Project: Divergent Thinking across Middle and Senior Managers

摘要: Research and development (R&D) generates projects, but the question often remains: which projects should be exploited? Building on innovation, strategy, managerial cognition literatures, we use a conjoint field experiment to collect data 4032 decisions made by 126 R&D managers test how project attributes, strategic context, managers' characteristics influence innovation exploitation decisions. Using hierarchical linear modeling, find that (1) experience impacts decision policies of middle more than senior managers, (2) divergent thinking across increases with experience, (3) experienced diverge from in their exploit opportunities placing greater emphasis context (relative competitors fit within portfolio) lesser uncertainty (technological demand). These findings have implications for strategy literature.